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Wild Brew Celebrates 10th Anniversary

For the past ten years, the Wild Brew planning committee has been telling Tulsa beer is for the birds.The food and beer festival, an annual benefit for Bartlesville’s Sutton Avian Center, is Tulsa’s annual excuse to drink a variety of beer and eat a lot of food in the name of a good cause. The festival is expected to attract hundreds to Expo Square’s Central Park Hall Aug. 2.“It’s kind of like a pub crawl,” said Toni Garrison, event chair. “You go around and taste all the different beers and all the different restaurants.”The tenth Wild Brew festival will feature 80 beers and more than 25 restaurants. Admission is $40, and doors will be open 5-8 p.m. Festival patrons are admitted an hour early for exclusive tasting time for an extra $60. Table sponsorships start at $2,000. Midlife Crisis Band, a common fixture of local charity events, will provide live entertainment, along with Shelby Eicher and Mark Bruner. Garrison is excited about more than just the air conditioning, which is supposed to be better in the new Wild Brew venue. “We have always had about 1,500 people come out, but this year we have twice the space – so, we hope to have more. We are encouraging everybody to come try us,” she said.Eric Marshall, owner and operator of Tulsa’s own Marshall Brewing Co., will be bringing his Atlas India Pale Ale, Sundown Wheat and McNellie’s Pub Ale to Wild Brew this year. “I’ve been a number of times. I’ve always been a big fan of it,” Marshall said. “It’s something for charity, but it’s definitely the premier beer festival in Tulsa.” “It was something I wanted to get involved with because it gives me a big reach to a lot of people who come out to that event. Also, it’s for charity, and it’s for a good cause. It’s a fun group of people on the committee who are putting it together.” The festival raised $70,000 for the Sutton Center last year, up 67 percent from money raised in 2006 and 35 percent from money raised in 2005.